Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/799

Rh ARKANSAS

ARKANSAS

4 June, 1812, and a temporary government estab- lished. By Act of 2 March, 1819, all of the territory south of a line hcninniiif; on the Mississippi River at 36° north latitude, runiiitif; thence west to the river St. rraii(.oi.s, thence up the same to 30° 'M.Y north latitude ami thence west to the western terri- torial boundary line, was e.stablisheil as a new Territorj' to be Known as "the .^rkansaw Territory".

Climate. — ("oiucniinf; weather conditions, the re- port of the chief nf the Weather Bureau states the highest temperature observed at any weather station in Arkansas during the year 1903 to have been 105°, observed at two stations, the lowest — 12° also observed at two stations. The smallest rain- fall reported for the year i.s 34.48 inches, the greatest 5 inches. So early as November, 1903, there were snowfalls at three of the stations, in December at all the stations except one, in January, 1904, at all the stations except three, in February, at all except four, no snow is reported in March, and in .\pril a trace is reported at two stations. The greatest fall of the sea-son wius 11.5 inches, the least, 0.5 of an inch. The reports of temperature are from sixty- one stations, of rainfall from sixty-.six stations, and of snowfall from thirteen stations.

Histon/. — The Territory was visited during 1819 by the <listiiif;uislicd botanist, Thomas Nuttall. Of the district u;itii'((l by the " Arkansa" river which in .-i generally .southeasterly course flows through Arkansas, he states that it is scarcely less fertile than Kentucky and favourable "to productions more valuable and saleable", while "the want of good roads is scarcely felt in a level country mean- dered by rivers". .■Vnd he remarks upon the "lucra- tive employment" to be found "in a coimtry whidi produces cotton". Some of the settlers were of French Canadian origin, among them descendants probably of ten settlers who came with the Chevalier de Tonti, when, in 1685, he proceeded up the river to the village of the Arkansas. In the settlement on the banks of the "Arkan.sa" river "a few miles below the bavou which communicates with White river", Nuttail found " the sum of general indu-stry . . . insufficient" and "the love of amu.scinents ... as in most of the French colonies . . . carried to extravagance". Indeed this traveller comments unfavourably upon " the generality of those who. till lately, mhabited the banks of the Arkansa.". .■\nd "at the Cadron" he found that "every reason- able and rational amu.sement appeared ... to be swallowed up in dram-drinking, jockeying and gam- bling", while at "the Pecannerie now- the most considerable settlement in the territory except .-Xr- kansas", and settled by about sixty families, the more industrious and honest suffered, from the dis- honest practices of their indolent neighbours, "ren- egadoes from justice, who had fled from honest society". In contrast to a portion of this indictment against early territorial conditions may be mentioned the prohibitory liquor laws of the modern State, and their rigorous enforcement (Digest of the Stat- utes, § } 5093-5148; The United States in our own Time, 765). .\rkansa.s became a State by Act of Congress, 15 June, 1836. The State long continued to be sparsely settled. Colonel R. B. Marcy, who seems to liave visited .some portions of Arkansas so late as 1854, refers in " Army Life " to the "sparsely scattered forest habitations " on the borders of .■Vr- kansas and Texa.s " far removed from towns and villages and seldom visited by travellers", where, he tells us, " the ideas, habits and language of the population . . . are eminently peculiar and very different from those of any other people I have ever before met with in my travels". Tlie.se bor- derers seem to have been generally illiterate. .\n<l Colonel Marcy describes also the interior .settlements of .\rkansas and tho.se of Texas and southwestern

Mis,souri a.s regions where " the traveller rarely sees a church or school-house" (Army Life, 386). While yet "rude and thinly .settled" (Schouler, Hist, of V. S. of .Xm., VI, 92), .\rkan.sas by ordinance of it« Convention on 6 May, 1861, joined its fortunes with those of the other States of the attempted .Southern Confederacy. .Vs in .Mi.ssouri .so in Northern .\rkan- sas, guerilla warfare followed during more than a year, .\fterwarils warfare in Arkansas became of a more important character. In 1863 Arkan.sas Post was captureil by the Federal forces; there was a small engagement at .\rkadelphia, and engagements at Fayettevule antl sixteen miles from I'ort Smith. The Federal garrison of Helena and that of Pine Bluffs were unsuccessfully attacked by the Confederate forces during this year, .^t the battle of Cliicka- mauga, the First Arkansas regiment lost forty- five per cent of its men. "And these los.ses" it is said "included very few prisoners". (Campfire and Battlefield, 484.) In June, 1868, the State was restored to the Cnion and to representation in Congress, with an agreement to peqictuate uni- versal suffrage. During the reconstruction period, Arkansas wa.s not exemj)! from sad experiences similar to tho.se of other Southern States. A con- tested election in 1872 for (iovernor caused much confusion until 1875.

Conslitutinn arul Government. — By the constitution of the .Slate the city of Little Rock i« made the State capital. Legislative power is vested in a General Assembly to meet every two years. There is no female sulTrage. The Act of Congress of 1805 which has been already mentioned provides that no law of the Territory of Louisiana shall be valid "whidi shall lay any person under restraint or disability on account of his religious opinions, profession or worship". .\nd the State constitution now in force forbids any religious test as qualification to vote or hold office, and re<iuires that no one shall be incom- petent as a witness on account of religious belief, adding "but nothing herein shall be construed to dispense with oaths or aflirmations". "All men", declares the constitution, " have a natural and indc- fea.sible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; no man can, of right, be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any mini.stry against his consent. No human authority can, in any ca.se or manner whatsoever, control or interfere with the right of conscience, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious establishment, denomination, or mode of worship above any other. " The constitution directs the enactment of suitable laws to protect every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public wor- .ship. It also ordains the maintenance by the State of a "general, suitable and eflTicient system of free schools".

Edueation. — In pursuance of this direction the laws of the State make elaborate provisions for free schools and a "University of ArKansas". (Digest of the Statutes, §§ 7484-7739.) No teacher is to be licensed in the public .schools "who does not be- lieve in the existence of a Supreme Being". And no teacher in these schools "snail permit sectarian books to be used as reading or text books in the school under his care". The twelfth United .States Census reports a school attendance in 1900 of 2.30.180 persons, of whom 115.613 were females. Including m the list those who could only read with those who could neither read nor write, 20 per cent of the males of voting age were illiterate.

Pnpulatinn. — The population of the State in 1900 was 1,311.564 according to the census. Only 14,289 persons were foreign bom. Of negro descent there were 366,8,56. Of males fifteen years of age and over, 37.6 per cent were single, 56.1 per cent married.